Barnes maze

[1] The test subjects are usually rodents such as mice or lab rats, which either serve as a control or may have some genetic variable or deficiency present in them which will cause them to react to the maze differently.

[3] It is also used by neuroscientists to determine whether there is a causative effect after mild traumatic brain injury on learning deficits (acquisition trials) and spatial memory retention (probe) at acute[4] and chronic time points.

[5] This task is dependent on the intrinsic inclination of the subjects to escape from an aversive environment and on hippocampal-dependent spatial reference memory.

The model is based on rodents' aversion of open spaces, which motivates the test subject to seek shelter in the escape box.

[8] An experiment done on degu, a specific rodent species, showed that there can be sex differences in performance on the Barnes maze.

In addition, it was noted that the spatial retention ability of female rats was largely dependent on the phase of their estrus cycle.